Apache no longer starts (AH02238: Unable to configure RSA server private key)

My Apache Server no longer starts. Checking the log shows that:

[Fri Apr 24 18:05:01.342667 2015] [ssl:emerg] [pid 21220] AH02238: Unable to configure RSA server private key
[Fri Apr 24 18:05:01.342716 2015] [ssl:emerg] [pid 21220] SSL Library Error: error:0B080074:x509 certificate routines:X509_check_private_key:key values mismatch
[Fri Apr 24 18:05:01.342721 2015] [ssl:emerg] [pid 21220] AH02311: Fatal error initialising mod_ssl, exiting. See /var/log/apache2/error.log for more information 

I compared the results of

openssl x509 -noout -in zertifikat-pub.pem -modulus

and

openssl rsa -noout -text -in zertifikat-key.pem -modulus

They were the same.

In my /etc/apache2/sites-available/default-ssl.confyou can find following lines:

 SSLCertificateFile /etc/ssl/certs/zertifikat-pub.pem SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/ssl/private/zertifikat-key.pem

Any idea what to do?

1 Answer

From your Vhost or website on apache the .crt file does not match the .key file.

I had this problem and had to contact my SSL provider to give me the private key file.

This can happen when you make a CSR online and had previously made a CSR server-side.

Hope that helps you.

(To prevent the start failure set your website to http port 80) during your debugging.